May 8 (Bloomberg) -- CBOE Holdings Inc.’s Chicago Board
Options Exchange must face patent-infringement claims brought by
International Securities Exchange over an automated system for
trading options contracts, a U.S. appeals court said.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said
yesterday a trial judge erred in interpreting key aspects of the
ISE’s patent 6,618,707, and remanded the case for further
proceedings. The lower court had ruled that CBOE’s Hybrid
Trading System didn’t infringe the patent.

CBOE sued ISE in 2007 after it received a letter from ISE
demanding that it pay patent royalties and was sued by ISE in
New York. Chicago-based CBOE sought a court ruling that cleared
its system of any infringement claims.

The Hybrid system blends a traditional calling of trades
with electronic execution, according to the ruling. CBOE, the
oldest U.S. options exchange, is the biggest operator of U.S.
options markets by volume.

ISE is owned by Frankfurt-based Deutsche Boerse AG’s Eurex
subsidiary. In March, the company said it may introduce a second
platform for U.S. equity options.

The case is Chicago Board Options Exchange Inc. v.
International Securities Exchange LLC, 2011-1267, U.S. Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit (Washington). The lower court
case is Chicago Board Options Exchange v. International
Securities Exchange LLC, 07cv623, U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of Illinois (Chicago).

Otsuka’s Abilify Patent Upheld in U.S. After Teva Appeal

Otsuka Holdings Co.’s pharmaceutical unit and partner
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. won an appeals court ruling that will
help ward off generic-drug competition to their schizophrenia
drug Abilify until April 2015.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit rejected
yesterday invalidity arguments by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Ltd., the world’s biggest generic-drug company, and Apotex Corp.
The decision upholding Otsuka’s patent 5,006,528 was posted on
the court’s website.

Abilify, also known by its active ingredient aripiprazole,
was first approved by U.S. regulators in 2002. New York-based
Bristol-Myers reported its share of Abilify sales was $2.76
billion last year, or 13 percent of the company’s revenue.

The generic-drug makers conceded that their copycat
versions would infringe the patent, so legal arguments centered
on whether the patent was valid. Teva and Apotex contended that
the drug was already covered by a patent that expired in 2005.

The Federal Circuit in Washington, which specializes in
patent law, said researchers would have first looked to other
compounds to find a new antipsychotic, and Teva and Apotex
failed to prove that the compound aripiprazole would have been
the obvious choice.

Laura Hortas, a spokeswoman for Bristol-Myers, said the two
drugmakers were pleased with the decision, which “maintains the
patent protection for Abilify in the United States until April
2015.” Denise Bradley, a spokeswoman for Teva, said the company
had no comment.

The case is Otsuka Pharma Co. v. Sandoz Inc., 2011-1126 and
2011-1127, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit
(Washington). The lower court case is Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co.
v. Sandoz Inc., 07-cv-1000, U.S. District Court, District of New
Jersey (Trenton).

Novozymes to Appeal Judge’s Ruling Invalidating Ethanol Patent

Novozymes A/S, the world’s largest maker of industrial
enzymes, said it will appeal a federal judge’s ruling
invalidating its patent 7,713,723.

In March, a federal jury in Madison, Wisconsin, awarded
Novozymes $18.3 million in an infringement verdict against
DuPont Co.’s Danisco unit. Danisco, the biggest maker of food
additives and second-largest industrial enzyme producer, was
found to have willfully infringed the patent at issue.

At that time, DuPont, which bought Danisco in June, said it
planned to appeal that verdict.

In a May 4 order, U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb said
that from the very beginning of the case “I have questioned the
validity of the patent” with respect to patent law’s
requirement that the written description give adequate
information about the patent.

The patent covers a process through which ethanol is
produced from corn starch.

The judge said that by “clear and convincing evidence”
the defendants proved that claims of the patent are inadequate
and invalid as a matter of law. She directed the clerk to enter
judgment in favor of the defendants.

In a statement yesterday, Novozymes General Counsel Mikkel
Viltoft said his company disagrees with Crabb’s decision. The
company will file an appeal with the U.S. Court of Appeal for
the Federal Circuit, the Washington-based court that handles
appeals of patent cases.

The case is Novozymes A/S v. Danisco A/S, 3:10-cv-00251-BBC, U.S. District Court, Western District of Wisconsin
(Madison).

Brunei Agrees to Be Bound by Patent Cooperation Treaty

Brunei signed on to the international Patent Cooperation
Treaty, the World Intellectual Property Organization said in a
statement.

The agreement is set to go into effect on July 24.

Under the treaty, applicants have a unified procedure for
filing patent applications.

According to a September 2011 list compiled by the Geneva-based WIPO, a United Nations agency, 144 other nations have also
agreed to be bound by that treaty.

For more patent news, click here.

Trademark

EA Trademark Filing Hints at Ocean Destination for Sims Games

Electronic Arts Inc., publisher of the Madden NFL computer
games, may be taking its Sims franchise to sea.

The Redwood City, California-based games company filed two
applications to register “SimOcean” as a trademark, according
to the database of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The two applications were filed April 25 and specify that
the marks would be used for an online computer game and
computer-game software.

Orthodox Union Sues New Zealand Coffee Company for Infringement

The Union of Orthodox Congregations of American, one of the
organizations that provides Kosher certification for food in the
U.S., sued a New Zealand coffee company for trademark
infringement, the J-Wire Australian Jewish news service
reported.

At issue is the logo used by Underground Coffee Co. of
Christchurch, which the Union says too closely resembles the
letter U inside a circle that it uses to identify Kosher food,
according to J-Wire.

The coffee company has used the logo since 2003 and the
union began objecting to its use in 2009, J-Wire reported.

Lamborghini Applies to Register ‘Huracan’ as U.S. Trademark

Automobili Lamborghini SpA applied to register “huracan”
as a trademark, according to the database of the U.S. Patent and
Trademark Office.

According to the application, filed in April, the Italian
automaker plans to use the mark for passenger cars and parts and
for model cars.

In March, Lamborghini Chief Executive Officer Stephan
Winkelmann said the Sant’Agata Bolognese, Italy-based company
might be introducing a new model to boost sales of the luxury
cars. Several automotive websites have suggested that
“huracan” might be the name of the new model.

The only holder of an issued U.S. trademark registration
for “Huracan’ is Design Beverage Inc. of New York, which
registered the name in August 2007 to use for a energy drink,
according to the patent office database.

For more trademark news, click here.

Copyright

Oracle Jury Gives Google Early Victory in Android Copyright Case

A federal judge said Oracle Corp. can’t seek $1 billion in
damages from Google Inc. for infringing copyrights when it
developed Android software running on more than 300 million
mobile devices because a jury couldn’t agree on whether it was
‘‘fair use.”

A jury in San Francisco yesterday found that Google, the
largest Web-search provider, infringed Oracle’s copyrights for
programming tools and nine lines of code. U.S. District Judge
William Alsup said at this point Oracle can only seek damages on
the nine lines, which by law would be at most $150,000.

“There has been zero finding of liability on copyright,
the issue of fair use is still in play,” Alsup said about the
12-member jury’s decision on the programming tools. He ordered
the patent phase of the case to begin today; damages will be
taken up by the jury in the last phase of the eight-week trial.

Anyone can use copyrighted work without consent of the
owner if it advances the public interest by adding something new
or functional. Google attorney Robert Van Nest asked Alsup to
declare a mistrial, saying the issue of whether the company is
liable for infringement is directly linked to the question of
whether it was fair use. Alsup gave each side until May 10 to
submit arguments on that issue and didn’t say when he’ll rule.

“Google won the battle and it remains to be seen who won
the war,” said Brian Love, an intellectual property attorney
and teaching fellow at Stanford Law School.

For more, click here.

Madonna Accused of Infringing Aussie Artist’s Symbol Copyright

An Australian artist claimed that pop star Madonna
infringed the copyright for a symbol he uses to promote his
work, Sydney’s Telegraph newspaper reported.

RJ Williams sent a letter to Madonna’s agent saying that
the “M” symbol used on the singer’s new “Truth or Dare”
fragrance line too strongly resembles the symbol he has used in
his painting and on clothing, according to the Telegraph.

He told the Telegraph that he is asking the performer to
halt her unauthorized use of his symbol and he seeks profits
realized from the sale of the fragrance and a future license
agreement.

For more copyright news, click here.

Trade Secrets/Industrial Espionage

Former Sanofi Chemist Gets 18 Months for Trade Secrets Theft

A former Sanofi research chemist was sentenced to 18 months
in prison for stealing company trade secrets and making them
available for sale through the U.S. unit of a Chinese company.

Yuan Li, 30, was sentenced yesterday in federal court in
Trenton, New Jersey, where she pleaded guilty Jan. 17 and
admitted to stealing information about Sanofi compounds and
selling them on the website of Abby Pharmatech Inc. Li, a
Chinese national who lives in Somerset, New Jersey, was also
ordered by U.S. District Judge Joel Pisano to pay $131,000 in
restitution.

Li is a 50 percent partner in Abby, which sells
pharmaceuticals. Abby is a U.S. unit of a Chinese company,
Xiamon KAK Science & Technology Co., according to court papers.

Li worked from 2006 to 2011 in the U.S. headquarters of
Paris-based Sanofi in Bridgewater, New Jersey, where she worked
to develop compounds that could be used in future drugs and that
hadn’t been disclosed to the public, including in patent
applications, according to a statement by U.S. Attorney Paul
Fishman.

In pleading guilty, Li admitted that from January 2010 to
June 2011, she downloaded data on compounds, including their
chemical structures, and used personal e-mail or a USB thumb
drive to transfer it to her home computer, Fishman said.

The case is U.S. v. Li, 12-cr-34, U.S. District Court,
District of New Jersey (Trenton).

German Folding Stool Design Stolen From Egypt, Scholars Say

The discovery of more than 20 folding stools in Germanic
archaeological sites has led scholars to speculate that the
stools’ Egyptian designers were victims of early day industrial
espionage, Spiegel Online reported.

The stools, which were commonly used in Egypt 4,000 years
ago, turned up in grave sites in Germany and Denmark beginning
in 1400 B.C., according to Spiegel.

The German versions were copied from those made in Egypt,
Spiegel reported. Bettina Pfaff, a German archaeologist
specializing in pre-history, told Spiegel that the design and
dimension of the Germanic folding stools are too similar for
them to have been a parallel development without any contact
with the Egyptian originals.